Suntan lotion dispensers, such as the subject one, have certain idiosyncracies which must be satisfied. First of all, they are generally located near a swimming pool or a beach or golf course where electric power to operate them is generally unavailable or if available, undesirable. The customer may have wet feet and hands, and even when the dispenser is well grounded and provided with ground-fault detection, domestic electric power is undesirable. The low-voltage, low-current battery power may be used, the location of the machine often times makes it subject to drenching rains or flying sands so that switch fouling or corrosion is likely and besides, coin operated electrically controlled operating circuits are notoriously easy to "gyp". The primary object of this invention is to avoid hazards of these ilk by providing an entirely self-sustaining coin operated dispenser whose sole source of power is compressed gas, i.e., air or CO.sub.2.
A further object of the invention is to provide an atomizing dispenser for suntan lotion which has an operating cycle during which a single measured charge of liquid is dispensed, and which can not be stopped in mid-cycle and drain out more than one measured charge, thereby defeating the ingenious, who, with wires, toothpicks and electro-magnets have been known to "milk out" the entire contents of a vending machine, sometimes without investment of a single coin.